Five Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators representing Taipei County constituencies yesterday called on the government to complete a review of a Taipei County Council proposal for the county to become a special municipality.
“We hope the Ministry of the Interior and the Executive Yuan can complete the review as soon as possible,” KMT Legislator Wu Ching-chih (吳清池) told a press conference.
“Only when Taipei County becomes a special municipality can it enjoy equal footing to negotiate a merger with Taipei City,” Wu said.
KMT Legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) said the five legislators were not opposed to a planned merger between Taichung City and Taichung County, but the government “should not discriminate against Taipei County.”
“Taipei County is the most eligible to have its status raised to that of a special municipality. It has a population of 3.84 million people and the population threshold for a special municipality is 1.25 million people, which means Taipei County is qualified three times over,” Lee said.
“The Executive Yuan should know that Taipei County residents would be very disappointed if the county were unable to become a special municipality by the end of this year,” Lee said.
On Monday the Taipei County Council unanimously backed a plan to elevate the county’s status to that of a special municipality.
Taipei County Commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) said county residents wanted to be treated the same as Taipei City residents.
Chou also reiterated that he would not seek re-election if the upgrading bid fails.
On April 3 the legislature approved an amendment to the Local Government Act (地方制度法) to allow cities and counties to integrate into special municipalities or to be elevated to a special municipality.
‘JOINT SWORD’: Whatever President Lai says in his Double Ten speech, China would use it as a pretext to launch ‘punishment’ drills for his ‘separatist’ views, an official said China is likely to launch military drills this week near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming national day speech as a pretext to pressure the nation to accept its sovereignty claims, Taiwanese officials said. China in May launched “punishment” drills around Taiwan shortly after Lai’s inauguration, in what Beijing said was a response to “separatist acts,” sending heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated Lai. The May drills were dubbed “Joint Sword — 2024A” and drew concerns from capitals, including Washington. Lai is to deliver a key speech on Thursday in front of the Presidential Office
Taiwan was listed in 14th place among the world's wealthiest country in terms of GDP per capita, in the latest rankings released on Monday by Forbes magazine. Taiwan's GDP per capita was US$76,860, which put it at No. 14 on the list of the World's 100 Richest Countries this year, one spot above Hong Kong with US$75,130. The magazine's list of the richest countries in the world is compiled based on GDP per capita data, as estimated by the IMF. However, for a more precise measure of a nation's wealth, the magazine also considers purchasing power parity, which is a metric used to
Taipei’s Ximending (西門町) shopping area welcomed the most international visitors, followed by Taipei 101, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park and Yangmingshan National Park (陽明山國家公園), a list of the city’s most popular tourist attractions published by the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism showed. As of August, 69.22 million people had visited Taipei’s main tourism spots, a 76 percent increase from 39.33 million in the same period last year, department data showed. Ximending had 20.21 million visitors, followed by Taipei 101 at 8.09 million, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park at 6.28 million, Yangmingshan at 4.51 million and the Red House Theater (西門紅樓) in
NINTH MONTH: There were 11,792 births in Taiwan last month and 15,563 deaths, or a mortality rate of 8.11 per 1,000 people, household registration data showed Taiwan’s population was 23,404,138 as of last month, down 2,470 from August, the ninth consecutive month this year that the nation has reported a drop, the Ministry of the Interior said on Wednesday. The population last month was 162 fewer than the same month last year, a decline of 0.44 per day, the ministry said, citing household registration data. Taiwan reported 11,792 births last month, or 3.7 births per day, up 149 from August, it said, adding that the monthly birthrate was 6.15 per 1,000 people. The jurisdictions with the highest birthrates were Yunlin County at 14.62 per 1,000 people, Penghu County (8.61
RSS